A Fontana utility that once had to tamp down water pressure in its pipeline system is now harnessing the force to produce electricity and run its treatment plant.

Excess power is sold to Southern California Edison.

The operation at Fontana Water Co.âs Sandhill plant in Rialto is a renewable technology with a smaller footprint and lower cost than solar and wind operations, officials said Friday, Feb. 21.

The 95-kilowatt project, which uses water flowing through a pipe to turn a turbine and make electricity, is similar to one installed in 2010 at a Riverside Public Utilities booster station. The electricity is returned to the agencyâs internal grid and is used to power a pump station, said Kevin Milligan, an assistant general manager.

Riversideâs turbine has a maximum output of 7 kilowatts but generates about 5 kilowatts most of the time, enough to light several miles of streetlights or a couple homes, he said.

Milligan didnât have figures on how much money has been saved. Riversideâs water supplies come in at a much slower velocity than Fontanaâs, which makes it less efficient, he said.

âWeâve been happy with it. But when we explored the economics around doing another, we just werenât quite there because we could acquire lower-cost renewable energy elsewhere,â he said.

Fontanaâs small hydropower project helps meet a state requirement that large, investor-owned utilities such as Edison get 33 percent of their electricity from solar, wind and other renewable sources by 2020. It also fulfills a state law to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 â" directives expected to drive the hydro technologyâs popularity, said Matthew Swindle, CEO of NLine Energy, which produced Fontanaâs system.

NLine is updating a small hydro system for Three Valleys Municipal Water District in Claremont, and several other Southern California agencies are working on projects, Swindle said.

Hereâs how Fontanaâs small hydro system works:

Normally, State Water Project supplies and runoff from Lytle Creek would travel downhill, gaining pressure that would reach 140 pounds per square inch, far too powerful for the system. The water agency would dissipate the pressure until it reached 10 pounds per square inch.

Now, the water is routed into a small powerhouse with two systems, one for low flow and one for higher flow, which can be used together.

The water enters a turbine with a shaft that turns a generator, which produces enough power for about 150 homes, Swindle said. It puts out the same amount of energy as a 1 megawatt solar plant on five acres, he said.

In October, the Sandhill plant purchased 39,000 kilowatt hours of electricity from Edison, officials said. In December, after the plant had been online for a month, the plant bought 1,500 kilowatt hours.

âI think youâre going to see more agencies coming online with this,â said Robert Young, Fontana Water Co.âs general manager.

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